My meaning is this, that in every aspect of life, purity and holiness, cleanliness and refinement, exalt the human condition and further the development of man's inner reality.~‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 146-147
This is a very special year in the Baha'i Faith. Stories of a special central figure are being shared and read around the world. Through these stories aspirations are generated of the human beings we can become. With these very clear examples, I have an idea of how to behave in my interactions and can set my behaviour against this standard with an understanding of ways in which I may improve. I want to dive deeper into the murky mess of cleaning up my heart. I long to open my heart more fully to others and interact from a place of love and acceptance. It is simply not the doing of good deeds that is required but how to purify my thoughts so that my deeds flow as a matter of course, naturally. In this process of freeing myself from negative influences and addictive desires, I have decided to get some help. I have been pretty diligent about doing the work myself and using this space to get my thoughts out and process experiences through the lens of the virtues. I enjoy helping others and now realise that I too can benefit from an ever deeper exploration to really get to the root of some of these ingrained patterns that sweep me along in their wake without my intended participation. I really want to disrupt these patterns and perhaps one way to do that is to seek some help from someone who has done this work before. I had tried the typical therapist route ever so briefly and derived no real benefit from the experience. What I like about this healer that I have recently connected with is that her methods are not conventional and are a result of her experiences. Without intending to do so a practice of helping others has emerged from doing her own personal healing work. I know that there is a lot of pain up ahead in my process as I willingly submit to the forces of transformation. But it is through facing the painful parts of my past that have firmly set up some very false narratives will I discern what is actually true, believe it and live it. The exercise of purity is the cleaning up of all the dust on my heart. I would never refuse help to clean my own home so now I am open to the help to do some inner cleaning. If I want to invite new ways of being into my life I first need to clean up the old, release it all and let something new and wonderful be exposed to the light so that it may grow. This is my intention. On this next stage of this journey, I will bring you all along.